Trouble in Paradise
by Hersheybear
Summary: Sands as a high school student in Florida encounters a new student and turns her paradise image of the new town upside down. But change isn't always bad, is it? Chapter 3 is up!
1. First Impressions

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any rights to characters other than the ones I create. I've only visited Marco Island once, so some of the images and facts I use may not be true, but part of my imagination and creation.**

Carlie pushed her curly blonde hair out of her face and checked her makeup in the rearview mirror as she waited at the stoplight. Today she had to look her best…it was important...no _crucial_ that she looked perfect. After all, it was her first day at her new school. Carlie was going into her junior year of high school when her dad announced he was being transferred. They were moving from their cozy New York suburb to Marco Island, Florida. It was a big change, sure the sun and warmth and beaches would be much appreciated, but for a New York girl, the most important thing was fitting in the right crowd...after all how much fun can you have in Florida alone?

The light turned green and Carlie followed the line of traffic through downtown, heading towards her school. She was driving her mom's Lexus this morning, since they hadn't gotten her a car since they had moved. It didn't bother her…the Lexus wasn't bad…it was kind of cool actually…maybe a little too grown up for her, but at least she had a car to drive. She pulled into the school parking lot, looking for a spot to park in, she was thinking about where to find her first period class and was thankful she had already been given a tour of the school by her new principal. As these thoughts went through her mind, she saw a parking spot…a good one, she started to pull in, watching some girls talking as they walked into the school instead of watching the pickup truck that was going for the same parking spot as her. She snapped back to the situation at hand right as the truck pulled in front of her into the parking spot…she slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting him.

"What the hell was that about?" She muttered, checking around her…there were no more cars…the kids were heading into school, so she put the car in park and got out, frustration clearly painted on her face.

"What the hell were you doing?" She yelled as the kid casually got out of his truck…from the back view she got, he was average height and build with dark hair, longer than most.

The guy turned around and threw a cigarette on the ground, stomping it out. "What does it look like? I was getting a parking spot, now I'm going into the school.." He said with a blatantly obvious tone.

"You pulled in front of me…you were clearly coming from the wrong way.." Carlie said with disbelief at his carelessness. "Were you trying to have an accident this morning?" She added with a slight tone of anger

The guy walked over towards her, leaning against her open car door on the opposite side of her…his face inches from hers. "I got the parking spot, alright? It's as simple as that…and there isn't a scratch on your Lexus…so cool down…your hair has gotten more curls in the last 2 minutes than you had when you pulled in here.." He said with a smirk.

Carlie glared at him and refused to say anything else as she got back in her car and slammed the door, leaving him standing there as she quickly put the car in drive and drove off.

"Hey..I don't know you…maybe we can go out sometime.." He joked as she pulled away rather quickly. He shrugged. "Suit yourself.." He said, still chuckling at his own joke as he walked up towards the school.

"Jerk.." Carlie muttered under her breath as she drove off to find another parking spot, so she wouldn't be late her first day.


	2. Chemistry Class

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any rights to characters other than the ones I create. I do not have any rights to Once Upon A Time In Mexico or the character of Sands. I've only visited Marco Island once, so some of the images and facts I use may not be true, but part of my imagination and creation. **

Carlie found a parking spot further back and hurried up to the school. She adjusted her clothes and headed off to her first class, _chemistry_. She slid inside the room as the bell rang and she looked around the room at all of the people standing around, waiting to be assigned seats. She was glad she transferred in on the first day of school, instead of halfway through the school year, it would have been much more frustrating.

The teacher quieted the class down and began to read through the seating chart, putting them in rows based upon alphabetical order by the last name. Carlie sighed, _Sanderson_ put her near the end of the list. She didn't want to be standing around looking like a dork forever. She bit her lip and as soon as her name was called she flashed a dazzling smile and walked to her seat.

"Sheldon Sands." The teacher called next.

"I go by Sands." A familiar voice said, before walking to the seat.

Carlie looked up to see the same guy that had pulled in front of her in the parking lot walk towards her. "oh great." She muttered to herself.

He smirked as he saw her. "I see your curls have settled down, that mean you're not mad at me anymore? Maybe going to take me up on that offer?" He teased as he sat behind her.

She turned around to look at him. "What offer?" She asked

"To go out with me sometime." He shrugged.

She turned around with out giving an answer, though the cold shoulder seemed to be apparent enough.

"Alright, now I'll assign your permanent lab partners for the year. We have an equal number of boys and girls in this class, so it will work out. The teams will consist of one boy and one girl." The teacher explained.

Carlie smiled slightly, there was a cute boy in front of her, this could work out and could be a great way to find an 'in' into the right crowd.

The teacher began going through the list of names of lab partners and Carlie smiled, waiting for him to announce her being paired with the cute boy in front of her, instead, she heard something else.

"Sanderson and Sands, you'll be working together."

Carlie's eyes grew wide, she hadn't even thought of that possibility. How could so many things go wrong in one day? What was it with this guy?

She took a deep breath before turning around to face Sands again, she was about to say something when the bell rang, ending the period. He picked up his books and stood up, letting her go in front of him and watching the sway of her hips with a smirk.

"This might be fun." He muttered


	3. Appearances

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any rights to characters other than the ones I create. I do not have any rights to Once Upon A Time In Mexico or the character of Sands. I've only visited Marco Island once, so some of the images and facts I use may not be true, but part of my imagination and creation.**

After two weeks at her new school, Carlie was starting to feel like she really fit in. She was 'in' with the 'right' group and was adored by her friends. Just coming from the big city, she had all kinds of stories to share about fashion and appearance. Appearance was everything to Carlie…just like it was everything to all the girls in her previous school in New York. Carlie was on her way to popularity…everything seemed to be in her favor. Her friends thought she was awesome, the guys thought she was hot and her teachers respected her work ethic. But there was still Chemistry class; she and her partner were nothing alike: they were of two totally different social cliques; she loved attention, he was more of a loner; she was a top student, he didn't give a shit; she seemed to be easy to understand, he was more of a mystery. The differences were obvious, the similarities…well if there were any, they weren't so obvious.

Carlie looked up from her lab journal as Sands mixed some chemicals together. "You have 4 ml of HCl, right?" She asked

"Yeah." He replied, slightly distractedly as he poured the chemical into their mixture.

"Okay, now we have to heat the mixture until it turns milky." Carlie read from the procedures the teacher had handed out. She looked over as Sands produced another chemical. "Wait, that's not in the directions." She said, looking through the paper to see if she had missed something. "What is that?" She asked.

Sands smiled at her. "Just trust me, okay? This will be awesome." He said as he prepared to pour the chemical into the beaker.

"But…I don't think we should..." She said hesitantly.

Sands looked over at her. "Just trust me." He said with a sexy smoothness

She bit her lip and nodded, watching as he added the chemical and their mixture took on a dull pink hue before evolving into a more brilliant and bright hot pink that seemed to glow. "Wow." She said slowly. "How'd you know it would do that?" She asked.

"Actually I didn't know it would." He smirked and shrugged as the bell rang.

Carlie stared at him with disbelief. "You could have gotten us into so much trouble." She sighed and started to clean up.

Sands just shrugged and helped her clean up their equipment. "Try to have some fun, okay?" He smirked and walked out.

Carlie shook her head and walked out after him, meeting up with some of her friends. It was lunch period and kids were milling around everywhere. Carlie and her friends went outside and claimed a picnic table, waiting on more of their friends to join them. One of the girls noticed Sands leaning against a tree talking to another guy. "Isn't he hot?" She said to the other girls.

"I totally agree." Another girl said with a grin. "That smirk of his is to die for." She giggled.

Carlie looked over to see who they were talking about, when her eyes fell on Sands. "Sands? No way…you can't mean him." She said with genuine disbelief.

"Why not? You don't think he's hot? He's your lab partner, isn't he? I would so trade you anytime." The first girl replied.

"But…he's…what do you have in common with him?" Carlie asked. "He is so different from us…isn't that obvious? What could you like about him?" She asked again.

The girls shrugged. "There's something about a rebel…you've got to admit. And he's not bad looking, come on…just look at him."

"It's not like we said we wanted to date him. That would never happen. He's just real fine to look at." One of the other girls said.

Carlie looked over at Sands, right as he looked over at her. He broke out one of his signature sexy smirks as their eyes met. Carlie quickly looked away…none of her friends had noticed.


End file.
